Work experience and social security experience

Question: “Hello! I am about to retire, but the last few years have been difficult for me. I was laid off from work, and then I had a serious operation. I have just found a new job. I recently found out that my employer has not been paying my social security contributions regularly. In this regard, please explain to me what is the difference between work experience and social security length of service and what are the methods for calculating them?“

Work experience is considered to be the time during which you had an employment relationship with a concluded employment contract. It is calculated in calendar days, months, years. Work experience is a prerequisite for the emergence of not only labor rights, but also social security rights, such as the right to leave, to financial compensation in case of temporary incapacity for work, to a pension, to additional remuneration for holding a position, etc.
Work experience includes weekends, public holidays, paid and unpaid annual leave. An important circumstance is that the law specifies a period for unpaid annual leave – up to 30 days a year (in case of temporary incapacity for work, sick leave, etc.). For the work you do, you are subject to insurance in the National Social Security Institute under certain conditions regulated in the Social Security Code. The period of insurance service is considered to be:

• of taking paid or unpaid leave for raising a child, pregnancy and childbirth, for temporary incapacity for work;

• of receiving unemployment benefits;

• of paying benefits for temporary incapacity for work, pregnancy, childbirth and raising a small child, adoption of a child from 2 to 5 years of age, provided that you have insured or self-insured yourself for these events;

• from dismissal until your reinstatement to your job position or the time during which you were not allowed to go to your workplace to perform your work duties;

• during which you were detained by the authorities, for which reason you were dismissed, but were subsequently not brought as defendants, you were acquitted, the criminal proceedings were terminated or it was established that you were a sentence of imprisonment without grounds;

• in which you are employed, but the employer has not provided you with a suitable job;

• in which you are unemployed, due to layoffs, reduction in the volume of work, etc., and the employer is obliged to pay compensation for the time during which you are unemployed, but for no more than 1 month.

The equality or difference in the duration of work and insurance experience is reflected in the employment record book. For example, if you work only 4 hours, your work experience will be credited as one day of work experience, but the insurance contributions that your employer will pay or you will owe as a self-insured person will be halved.
After changes to the Criminal Code, the failure to pay insurance contributions by the employer is a criminalized act, equated to the failure to pay taxes. Workers are not responsible for the concealment of insurance contributions by their employer.

The necessary documents to certify the amount of insurance experience when receiving compensation or a pension are: * labor or insurance book. * certificate issued by the relevant territorial division of the National Social Security Institute, after you have submitted an Application form. In the event that you are denied the issuance of these documents, you could obtain them through legal proceedings.

This article examines some aspects of the topic and does not represent full analysis of the problem. 

Author: Petya Stoevska, Dr. Sc